Reply #17: CBC: Refugees flee Gadhafi's embattled hometown [View All]

[al bupp]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/09/20/libya-refugees-flee-sirte.html?cmp=rss

Families in pickup trucks stacked with mattresses and jugs of water fled Moammar Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte Tuesday ahead of an expected new push by revolutionary forces to seize the city from die-hard loyalists of the fugitive leader.

Fleeing residents said they had been living under a state of siege with Gadhafi's forces preventing them from leaving, while living conditions deteriorated and the city came under constant rocket fire and NATO bombardment.

...

"Our guys are going inside the city to give the families what they need, water and fuel so they can leave," field commander Mohammed Mebeggan said as NATO warplanes flew overhead. "We are giving them the opportunity to leave. Today is the last day."

"I tried to leave earlier with my family, but Gadhafi's forces wouldn't let me," said Abdullah Mohammed, 34, a computer engineer travelling with his wife, two daughters and son. "We managed to run away at dawn by taking back roads out of the city."